The present invention concerns telephone systems and pertains particularly to negotiating a scheduled telephone call.
Currently, a large percentage of telephone calls are not successfully completed. The unsuccessful calls are either directed into a voice mail system or fail because no one answers the call. When a calling party reaches the voice mail system, the calling party has two options. The calling party can hang up and attempt the call at a later time. Alternatively, the calling party can leave a message in the hope that the call will be returned.
If the calling party leaves a message and the called party attempts to return the call the return call also may fail to establish contact between the two parties. Also, if the original calling party tries again to make contact, there is no guarantee that the call will successfully connect the parties. When both parties have active schedules, a common result is "phone tag" where each party has to return many calls before the parties successfully connect with one another.